Kraven The Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff, Original, Watcher Datafile)
KRAVEN THE HUNTER Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff public Born into an aristocracy that had come to an end, Sergei Kravinoff became one of the world's greatest hunters to fulfill his sense of lost nobility. His family fled to the United States after the Russian Revolution of 1917 when he was still a boy. His formerly noble family was humiliated to be merely commoners in this new land, a feeling that Kraven would carry for the rest of his life. Kraven's mother suffered from depression and committed suicide. His father and had a son,Dmitri Smerdyakov, with his servant girl. Sergei, hating his current home life and his needy younger brother, traveled to Africa as a stow away on various ships to re-live the Russian past time of hunting. Kraven gained power by drinking rare and exotic jungle elixirs given to him by a witch doctor. These elixirs gave him the strength to wrestle an enraged bull to its knees, the speed to run as fast as a cheetah and sped his reflexes to be faster than a snakes. Such power made him more than a match for any wild animal, and he quickly grew bored with hunting, the one thing that gave his life meaning. Over the years, his brother Dmitri had grown up and tried hard to impress his older brother, often writing to Sergei to tell him about his exploits as a spy and saboteur known as the Chameleon. Sergei was not impressed, until Dmitri wrote to tell him about how he had just been defeated by an American vigilante known as Spider-Man. After he had been deported following his defeat, Chameleon returned to America and wanted Spider-Man out of the way. He turned to Kraven to do the job, and Kraven the Hunter relished the idea of hunting new and dangerous prey. Kraven accepted the offer made by Doctor Octopus to join the Sinister Six with Mysterio, Vulture, Electro and Sandman. Sergei often worked in cooperation with other criminals in order to bring down his hated prey. He took on jobs offered by the Green Goblin and other criminal masters to hunt down Spider-Man, each time without giving Kraven the satisfaction of killing his prey. Kraven also took a job from Mister Sinister to collect DNA samples from the original five X-Men. He achieved his goal and even gave some of his own DNA for experimentation, which resulted in the clone known as Xraven. Sergei's pride was wounded when the second Vulture (Blackie Drago) was considered the most dangerous man in New York by the media. Kraven took him on and both of them were beaten by Spider-Man. Kraven first met his other nemesis Ka-Zar in the Savage Land after capturing Zabu, the saber-toothed tiger. Kraven took Zabu to New York, where he was beaten by Ka-Zar. After this defeat, Kraven returned to the Savage Land and used the creature known as Gog to once more face Spider-Man Needless to say, all these and many more attempts on Spider-Man's life were to no avail. After escaping police custody, Kraven managed to defeat the Avenger Tigra and force her to fight Spider-Man. He controlled her through an electronic collar, which was destroyed by Spider-Man. Kraven retreated to the Caribbean to rethink his life and met Calypso Ezili, a voodoo priestess. The two fell in love. However, Calypso had an agenda and forced Kraven to return to New York. She forced Kraven to fight Spider-Man, but he gave up the hunt after learning that she had drugged his foe. Not wanting to win in an unfair fight, Kraven and Calypso were captured by the police. After being liberated from jail by AIM, Kraven was sent to kidnap Ka-Zar. He nearly killed his foe, until Ka-Zar saved him from falling to his death. Respecting his enemy's honor and realizing that Ka-Zar had been shot, Kraven gave him a healing jungle concoction before leaving. Kraven and Tigra fought for a third time in Los Angeles after an art museum robbery. Wanting a rematch, Tigra challenged Kraven to a fight to the death and was nearly killed, until reinforcements in the form of the West Coast Avengers arrived. All of these repeated failures took a deep toll on Kraven's psyche. More than any other Spider-foe, perhaps with the exception of the Green Goblin, the defeat of Spider-Man was Kraven the Hunter's obsession. Sergei was becoming an old man, despite his youthful appearance. The Hunter could not rest until he defeated his enemy. In his madness, Kraven believed that Spider-Man was possessed by "the Spider," a supernatural entity responsible for all of mankind's suffering. Kraven finally defeated Spider-man and buried him alive. He then took Spider- Man's black costume and started to live the life of the wall crawler. This was to prove that he was a better Spider-Man than the original. His crime fighting was considerably more deadly than the real Spider-Man's methods. He hunted and defeated the creature called Vermin, something Spider-Man was not able to do without the aid of Captain America. Spider-Man eventually clawed out from his grave and attacked Kraven. But Kraven did not retaliate because he had already won. To further drive home the point that Kraven was superior to Spider-Man, Sergei forced the hero to battle Vermin. Spidey was quickly overpowered, and Vermin was about to kill him when Kraven stopped the creature. Kraven released Vermin onto the streets in order to distract Spider-Man while the deranged Hunter took his own life. Affiliations Solo D10, Buddy D6, Team D8 Distinctions Jungle Hunter, Obsessive, Savage Nobility Power Sets JUNGLE POTION Enhanced Reflexes D8, Enhanced Senses D8, Enhanced Speed D8, Enhanced Stamina D8, Enhanced Strength D8 SFX: Beastmaster. When creating animal-related assets, resources or reinforcements, add a D6 and step up your effect die. SFX: Huntsmaster. Spend a doom die to step up a Combat-, Menace -, or Wilderness specialty stunt or resource and recover mental or emotional stress. SFX: Immunity. Spend a doom die to ignore stress, trauma, or complications from poison, disease, or fatigue. SFX: Second Wind. Before you take an action including a Jungle Potion power, spend a die equal to your physical stress from the doom pool to recover it and step up the Jungle Potion power by +1 for this action. SFX: Unerring Tracker. Use an effect die to create a Kraven's Prey complication on a target during a Scene. You may track that target anywhere until the complication is removed or Enhanced Senses is shutdown. Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Jungle Potion power and step up the lowest die in the doom pool or add a D6 doom die. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene. Limit: Fits of Rage. Step up the lowest die in the doom pool or add a D6 doom die to step up emotional stress from loss of control, or opponents that offend or mock you. GRIM HUNTER'S ARSENAL Enhanced Durability D8, Blast D8, Weapon D8 SFX: Blowdarts. When inflicting Hallucinogenic Drug or Paralyzing Poison complications on a target, add a D6 and step up your effect die. SFX: Hunter's Knives. Step back the highest die in your attack action pool to add a D6 and step up your effect die. SFX: Lion's Head Vest. On a successful reaction to a close-combat attack action, create an Electric Shock, Stunning Gas or Trigger Scent complication on your opponent with your effect die at no cost. SFX: Marksman. If a pool includes a Blast or Weapon power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger. SFX: Symkarian Capture Net. When inflicting entangling complications on a target, add a D6 to your dice pool. Add a “Dazed” complication equal to your original effect die at no cost. SFX: Weapon of Choice. For the cost of a resource, you may exchange Blast D8, Weapon D8, for Energy Blast, Energy Weapon, or Mystic Weapon D8, or step up Blast or Weapon for the duration of the next action scene. Limit: Gear. Shutdown a Grim Hunter's Arsenal power or SFX to step up the lowest die in the doom pool, or add a D6 doom die. Specialties Acrobatics Expert D8, Combat Master D10, Medical Expert D8, Menace Master D10, Mystic Expert D8, Vehicle Expert D8, Wilderness Master D10 Category: Datafile Category: Watcher Datafile Category: Russian Characters Category: Kravinoff Category: 1950's Avengers Category: Legion Accursed Category: Sinister Six